In August 2017, Lauren Underwood announced her candidacy for the 14th Congressional District of Illinois.[4]

Underwood's candidacy has been featured as a part of coverage of high levels of female candidates running in the 2018 midterms[5][6][7], including the January 2018 edition of Time Magazine "A Year Ago, They Marched. Now a Record Number of Women Are Running for Office". [8]

Underwood supports the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. In Illinois' 14th district, 37,000 people have coverage through the Affordable Care Act. She also supports enacting legislation to have Medicaid and health insurance cover both detox and rehabilitation treatment related to the opioid crisis.